How Allah Answered My Dua After Months of Struggle

Assalamu alaikum everyone. I wanted to share my experience with getting a job after a really tough time, hoping it might give some hope to anyone struggling. After my internship ended, I was on the hunt for work but kept hitting dead ends. I’d get interviews and then at the last moment something would go wrong. I wasn’t used to this kind of setback-normally life had always flowed smoothly for me by Allah’s mercy. So I started making dua without establishing salah, and nothing changed. Then I began praying Tahajjud, but still wasn’t doing my five daily prayers, and still nothing shifted. It was only when I began praying the obligatory prayers, even though I often missed Fajr, that things slowly started to move. Once I got into a more consistent routine-still missing Fajr sometimes-it was about 67 days of that, with maybe 20 days of actually not missing Fajr at all, when Allah finally opened the door. I had asked in my dua for a certain salary, and I ended up getting the top of that range plus an extra €55. Honestly, I feel like Allah had been warning me about tests before I even began looking. I kept seeing mountains with a bright sun behind them, which I took as a sign of obstacles coming. Just before the job came, I dreamed I stepped onto a grassy field near my part-time gig and heard a voice say, “Work.” My new job is actually close to that same place, and when I walked into the company the first time, I had a strong feeling of déjà vu-it just felt right. Everything was sorted in five working days. When Allah wills something, nothing stands in its way. My father also had a dream where two beings rose from the sea and gave me-as a little child-something precious in my right hand, telling me not to lose it. Could be a sign of deen, could be the job, everyone can read it how they like. I’ve always felt especially blessed in my connection with Allah, so I can’t say the same timeline will apply to others. But I made tons of istighfar too-before my prayers became steady, I did around 100,000, about 6,000 a day. Then I started doing 30 istighfar in sujood after each salah, and I’d pour all my duas out in sujood. Lately I’ve been doing 100 istighfar after Fajr, and I recite Surah Al-Falaq, Surah An-Nas, and Surah Al-Ikhlas after Fajr, Asr, and Maghrib-really helps with dark thoughts. This whole guidance process took 5-6 months and it was emotionally draining. Sometimes I’d feel so low I’d joke about not wanting to live anymore… but maybe not entirely joking. Still, Allah never left me alone; when I was really down, He would send super specific videos on my feed that spoke to my heart, things I don’t see anymore. And after the trial was over, I dreamed I stood on a cliff looking down at my struggles, with a bright moon flashing on my right and rain falling on me-the full moon felt like a sign of completion. The lesson I’d share is: guidance comes when He wills, and you have to hold on and pray your five daily salah-that’s really the only way. And honestly, I think I got off light compared to what it could have been. Alhamdulillah always.